


Truce

by holycheerbatman



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: M/M, Multi, Omegaverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-11
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-07 01:50:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3156479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/holycheerbatman/pseuds/holycheerbatman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A/B/O au where Bruce is a powerful alpha and Dick Grayson is a rare beta-born omega</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enter the Alpha

Bruce Wayne first claimed the city of Gotham when he was ten years old. The man was the most powerful alpha east of Metropolis, he had made sure no other alpha stepped foot in his city. Hell, the only other alpha he knew to ever stand in Gotham safely had been his father. As his son, he had practically inherited it like a prince takes on a kingdom.

His time with his parents was short. Though he often remembers his mother, and the controversy that speared around her. She was a cat. Rarely seen anywhere other than their beloved Central City, she had fallen for Thomas Wayne, a powerful young wolf filled with promise and possibility. Their love crossed every line that had ever been set. But like anything against the rules, it provided the greatest rewards. 

Their son, Bruce, resembled his father most. From the strong jawline of a wolf, to the dark hair, the only thing that seemed to scream his mother’s influence were his quick mind and even faster eyes. Cats had always been more observant than the wolves.

Bruce remembered nighttime runs on their property. His father, a large grey wolf, always leading his golden lioness of a mother and Bruce, a tiny black pup with paws much too big, catlike eyes, and retractable claws. For a half breed, Bruce was very promising. 

Even more promising had been the day his scent revealed him as an alpha. If Bruce was honest with himself, he would remember his father being overjoyed at the knowledge his son would fill his shoes. Bruce might even recall the celebratory night out, before it turned to hell.

Bruce had lost his pack to a human.

Someone who would never understand how much a pack meant to a wolf. How much a small alpha like him needed training. How much he loved the feeling of belonging.

No, humans would never understand.

The last son of the Wayne lineage had been raised from that day on by his one member pack, a beta butler. Alfred tried his best, and for that Bruce would always be grateful, but an alpha needs more than a pack of one to protect. To provide for. To love. And they both knew it.

 

An alpha needs an omega.


	2. Enter an Omega

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick Grayson was a pack animal by every definition of the word.

Dick had grown up protected by his parents. He knew little of the world within the world he was born into. The wolves’ world. His short, innorcent life had been spent moving quickly from place to place. Never unaccompanied by his parents. Not that he was one to complain. Dick Grayson was a pack animal. He thrived with close proximity to others and flourished as a performer.

The boy had never once left the circus, never once been out of his parents arms’ reach, never once been told exactly how special he was.

Dick Grayson was a beta-born omega.

As rare as an omega was, it was even rarer for two betas to produce one. As was the omega custom, dick presented his own scent at the tender age of four, immediately sending his parents into a whirlpool of worry. Omegas were often snatched up by alphas as soon as they presented. The rarest of all breeds, an omega was a symbol of success for alphas.

Mary and John Grayson knew this. They had performed for alphas with more than ten omegas kept as simple /pets/ for entertainment. It was a fate they did not wish for anyone, much less their own son. Dick was now one of the smallest minorities. John estimated to Mary there could only be five on the planet like him.

For that reason, the Graysons lived up to their Romani gypsy roots by constantly moving. By keeping Dick close to them, his growing scent was masked, making him appear a simple beta. Hardly worth a second glance from any alphas looking to add the pup to their personal collection.

The pup was happy. Anything his parents did was the best thing ever. Performing was the best thing ever. He was eager to learn everything there was about everything there was.  
His bright water-blue eyes never sparkled more than when he babbled to his mother and father about everything and nothing in their tiny trailer after a night run.

The slender jet black pup had paws that promised to give him only a few more feet before he fiished growing. His body was tight and muscular, built for running and jumping, a powerful instrument when the boy put his mind to it. perhaps the most unsettling and captivating thing about both pup and boy were those eyes. A perfect almond shape frame outlined by dark, thick eyelashes and filled with the most stunning shade of blue the heavens could imagine. One could see both the rage of a sea-storm and the calm of a desert oasis hidden in their depths.

 

Dick Grayson was beautiful.


	3. The Alpha Attends the Circus

Even before the circus started, the night was cold and dark. But the tent seemed to radiate a certain light that drew people in. Like a moth to flame, parents, children, and strangers flocked to the entrance. Among these was Bruce Wayne, though he was less than ecstatic about it. Alfred had convinced him to take up a date with notorious Gotham gossip-girl, Vicky Hale. 

She was pretty, but nothing like what was expected of him. He was tall, dark, handsome, and most often alone. She was short, skinny, with frizzy red hair, and long nails that clicked in an annoying way every time she touched a metal object. Her tight green top made her seem more like a green pencil with a fresh red eraser than a successful journalist.

They were both dressed casually, though casual for Bruce was most people’s best. A designer shirt, slacks, and dark loafers. He didn't mean to outshine his date, but he did in a simple elegance he carried with him like a grandma carries mints.

Vicky wore her green turtleneck with blue jeans and shiny emerald heels. Bruce often thought the only sound more annoying than her sickening pink nails was the click of heels against pavement. Fortunately, the circus was on gravel, deafening the sound as she struggled to walk.

“Enjoy the show” the short fat man said as he handed Bruce two programs and their tickets with freshly punched holes. Bruce smiled his response, the mask he often wore as Gotham’s prince clearly displayed. 

“Where should we sit?” Vicky asked as they stepped in. Bruce couldn't respond immediately. The smells, the sights, the people…it was all so amazing. So tantalizing. Like it held something extremely valuable in its soft but wild grip.

“Bruce?” she asked again, this time capturing his attention. Bruce sighed, pushing the circus’ temptations to the back of his mind. He was here as Bruce Wayne, not Batman, not an Alpha. 

“Hm, how about here?” he led her to a set of bleachers which was filling quickly. She took her seat and after her, he did too. Turning his attention to the program in his hand and looking for anything that promised a good look into this circus.


	4. Practice Makes Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look before the fall

The evening sky was just staining the bright blue of the day when the unfamiliar black car pulled up to the tent.

The Graysons flew through the air inside the tent, their grace and kill penetrating the very air around them. Dick laughed and leapt into his mother’s hands as she dangled from the trapeze by her knees. The family was world-known. The best in their class.

The man walked in with arms crossed over his chest. Dick’s nose instantly picked him up, recognizing a scent he hadn’t known since leaving Europe. The smell of an alpha. 

The look in John Grayson’s face showed he smelled it too as he let himself fall to the practice safety net. He climbed out and stood in front of the man.

“Can I help you?” he asked, almost bitterly. Mary pulled Dick back on the platform, keeping her son pressed to her body as she tried to rub her scent over his. She covered her pup’s ears, hiding the conversation below them.

John Grayson was a mighty beta, tall and broad shouldered with every inch of him pure lean muscle. He was by no mean a weaker wolf. But the alpha in front of him seemed not to notice. His body remained rigid as he smirked at John, telling him he’s made a mistake.

“I thinkwe can handle ourselves, thank you very much.” The beta replied. 

“Suit yourself,” the dark alpha spoke easily as he and his partner walked out of the tent, “I think it’s time the Flying Graysons learned what it’s like here on the ground.”

 

\-----~-----

Dick watched from above as the circus filled with people, creating a completely different atmosphere than when they practiced. The light filling the tent came from large lamps hung from the celeing instead of the sky, the rare visitor to their practice was replaced by a crowd, and the gentle excitement was replaced by buzzing adrenaline. 

The boy was absolutely in love with it.

Everything about the circus was perfect. The way he fit seamlessly in, the costumes, the lights, the sounds, the smells…all but one thing he had tried to push out of his mind.

He had heard the dark alpha’s words as he left the tent. He hadn’t quite understood them, but he knew. He knew something was going to happen. Something was bound to happen. And when it did, Dick knew exactly who to blame.. he had made sure to get a name for his face.

Tony Zucco.

Dick shook his head. Nothing would run tonight. Nothing! Tonight he was making his debut for Gotham. The city where performers were either stars or failures. He was determined, and maybe a little obsessed with not letting his parents down.

Dick Grayson would be a star.


	5. The Fall of the Betas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce knows. He understands what this means.
> 
> Bruce knows Dick Grayson won't last the night with the state.

Dick….had never thought about falling.

The Idea just wasn’t in his mind. The concept of suddenly not being in ther air anymore where you previously had been seemed…unnessicary. He always knew what to do if he   
slipped a bar, or missed his father’s hands. The rules for acrobatics were simple in his mind.

1) Trust your partner. They will catch you.   
2) Catch your partner.   
3) Arms out wide. Become a big target for them to catch.  
4) Smile  
5) Focus up. Looking down only brings you down. Look to the sky and you’ll soar.  
6) Don’t do something you don’t love.   
7) Don’t fall.

 

Dick could recite his father’s rules just as well as any middle school-er could the Pledge of Allegiance. He would never, ever break one of the rules.   
Perhaps that is the reason he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Or perhaps it’s due to the fact no one ever expects their parents to plummet from the sky.

Either way, Dick found he could not scream, he could not cry,he could just extend his arms and silently beg gravity not to work – just this one time – and let his mother grab his arms and he would pull them to safety.

But gravity listens to wishes almost as well as speedsters stand in one place for extensive amounts of time.

When his voice finally found his throat, the scream dick let out deafened the panic that hung in the air like a fog over Seattle. Dick’s entire body wracked with silent sobs as he stared down below him at his parents bodies. 

His mother, still laying next to his father, had her stunningly-beautiful but lifeless blue eyes locked on her son. John had one hand keeping Mary close to him, a strong grip in life was now reduced to the strength of a snowflake.

The tears didn’t come until the blood did.

Dick saw it first. His innocent blue eyes dropped a shade darker when he did. The crimsion stain slowly creeping out from every corner it possibly could. The liquid poured slow like magma turning to lava on the volcanos of Hawaii.

And with just as much force as a volcano, this red liquid destroyed the little omega’s life.

Bruce saw the fall.

He saw the hit.

He saw the blood.

But his eyes were not locked on the autrocity of the scene before him. No, they were locked upwards, where his nose could barely pick up the faintest smell he’d ever experienced. His instincts flared. He knew fully what sat perched and hidden from his view. The Grayson’s son, the program had called him Richard, “Dick”. 

He hadn’t expected to find an omega.

Instantly he was on his feet. But unlike the swarm of people running for the door, Bruce left his date and bolted towards the pole. Ignoring all of the sounds around him he started to climb. He had to get there.

He had to get to the omega first.

He froze halfway up the ladder and looked below himself. His instincts begged to push forward, keep climbing towards the omega, the one thing he was rightfully owed! 

“No,” the alpha whispered as he looked down at the others, now just faintly beginning to smell the honey-sweet scent and starting to look up twards Dick. Bruce knew in that instant that he couldn’t. that he wouldn’t.

Bruce Wayne, the most powerful alpha, in Gotham didn’t want the omega. 

Instead, he climbed back down. Letting the police department begin the climb towards the boy, whose sobs were audible from where the alpha stood. Bruce lowered his head in shame.

“He’s just a boy” were the first words spoken, directly to the right of Bruce, a smaller beta who had picked up the scent and now stood watching as CPS brought him down. Bruce nodded silently. He knew what this meant. He understood what would happen to Dick, both as a boy and as a wolf.

He knew Dick Grayson wouldn’t survive the night with the state.


	6. The Room at the End of the Hall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick's first night at the orphanage is hardly as planned.
> 
> Humans never understand.

The orphanage was “temporary” ; or, that was what the lady told dick as she ushered him into the car and out again, this time in front of a building. A tall, dark, and lonely building that seemed to be begging for a paint job. Dick’s eyes wondered up the side slowly, taking in every detail from the winter-frozen-dead-ivy crawling up the sides to the broken window on the second floor. 

“-and we’ll get you a new home as soon as we can.” The woman continued. Dick looked back, only now realizing she had been talking to him all this time. He nodded, hoping he could figure out what she said later. 

Honestly, he didn’t want to. Dick wanted to crawl into his bed, back at the circus, and sleep until his other woke him up from his nightmare. Then he’d tell her all about it and she would laugh and tell him

_We would never leave you alone, honey._

Dick’s eyes watered at the thought. He knew. He knew it was real. He knew he was alone. And it killed him inside. If there was anything left inside the boy to kill.  
He walked slowly. Entering the building seemed like handing himself over as his nose started picking up the scents. One low-level alpha, four betas, seven humans…and no omegas… The woman who had brought him smiled. She had no idea what she was condemning the boy to. How could she? Humans never knew. 

Dick envied them.

His eyes darted to a side door when it opened. There. That one, the boy with the long brown hair that hung in his eyes when he gave that evil grin. The one with the missing front tooth and dark green eyes. He was the alpha. And something told Dick he smelled him.  
The boy started to follow Dick as the human woman led the circus boy into a large office. When the door was closed, Dick let out a shallow breath. It wasn’t much of a barrier, but the oak door would shelter him for a few more minutes.

Why was he so afraid? Dick loved playing with other kids! Why was he so frightened by this one? Something inside Dick was screaming for help…and he was listening. 

“Well, Richard-“

“Dick.” He corrected quickly. His pet peve was his first name. and that was one thing no one would take from him on this terrible day. 

“…Dick,” the stout little woman behind the desk leaed forward, pshing her wire thin glasses up on her nose to peer at the ebony haired boy, “I was told you’re very...delicate.” Dick’s eyes snapped up to her tiny brown ones.

“Delicate?” he breathed. He was a Flying Grayson! His entire life he fought physics and pushed human boundries only to be called

_delicate?_

There was no way she was being honest with him. This had to be a joke. 

But even still, Dick Grayson found himself being led upstairs to the room at the end of the hall.

The farthest room from the door.

The farthest from his freedom.

\-----~-----

It was midnight when the door first opened.

Dick was not asleep. He couldn’t sleep. The nightmare the day had been had kept him awake and in a constant balancing act of one part panic attacks and one part feeling like he couldn’t breathe. The young wolf couldn’t even see straight when the attacks would hit. His entire body would shake, from his bones to his toes, and he couldn’t think of anything but how they looked.

How they looked when they fell.

Flying Graysons weren’t supposed to

_fall_

. 

The fake-wood door squeaked when it reached a quarter of the way open. That was the first thing his ears picked up on, before his nose noticed the scent. The scent of the boy. The green eyed-brown haired-missing toothed-alpha. It made Dick’s entire body go rigid as he prepared to growl or even fight if need be.

“You’re the newbie, huh?” the voice was innocent enough. Not forceful in any way. Dick tried to scold himself for being so hostile.

Dick nodded.

“Looks like you forgot to bring a welcome home present.” The voice continued. This time getting nearer and nearer as the boy stalked the newcomer like he was prey.

“I…I wasn’t told I needed to…” Dick barely got the words out before the panic attack took him. Shaking his body in an earthquake only he could feel, forcing him to relive every second of the fall…forcing him to die inside himself.

The way his body shook ravaged his mind, Dick could swear he could see them…they were so close…all he needed was to reach out an touch them, catch them…but then he would forget how to breathe and he would begin to choke, coughing and panicing, desperate not to choke before he could reach out to them. But it was too late. The chance was gone and Dick found himself choking, shaking, and in the presence of a hostile entity, one that had moved closer and was now perched on the side of Dick’s bed. Too close, far too close, the only people allowed that close were his-his-

And the panic would was over him again. Replaying his fault, his failure, his loneliness, all on a stage only Dick could see. A prison with only one captive. 

And one guard.

“Whoa, there, freak show! Calm down! I know exactly what your present could be,” the boy was on him now, pushing the still shaking form of the circus boy back onto the bed. Dick wanted to scream, wanted to fight, but he couldn’t. the panic that lapped over him like waves kept his body still to all but himself. Pinning his own arms to his sides as the larger, older boy slowly started his attack.

Dick could only lay there, half conscious, as the green –eyed, brown – haired, missing – toothed, alpha

**displayed his dominance.**


	7. The Alpha Takes the Omega

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce Wayne was always bad with affection.
> 
> This will be the last eight-year old Dickie. Next chapter will skip to him at 20 and Bruce at 30. That makes Bruce 18 when he adopts Dick.

Bruce wasn’t stupid.

He knew the rumors. The gossip. He knew everything the papers would or could or had possibly said about the fall of the Flying Graysons. Bruce was far too involved in his public persona to simply ignore it.

Besides, he didn’t feel like himself since then. 

Or more specifically, since he left the boy stranded atop the pole, waiting for a trapeze that would never swing back. That was the moment something had changed. Something

_inside_

Bruce had changed. But he couldn’t tell what.

Bruce spent the next day and a half researching it. Trying to understand what had happened back at the circus. There was no way this boy was

_his omega_

. No chance in hell. 

But somehow, Gotham’s most eligible bachelor still found himself outside of the orphanage, clutching his wallet and a piece of paper signed by a judge who owed him a favor. Perhaps he should’ve let the boy go, let him grow up without having an alpha around.

That was never an option. An omega as beautiful and rare as the Grayson boy would sell for a high price. He would be the crown jewel of any alpha’s collection. 

Bruce pushed open the large wooden door and walked to the office, taking a seat in front of the head mistress while she struggled to make the room presentable to Bruce Wayne. He watched her move papers around as she murmured something about the “insane” weather they’d been having, as if Bruce was not a Gothamite. 

He was about to agree and smile when he smelled it. 

The scent was sweet like honey with a bite like cinnamon. Its intensity and power almost made Bruce lose himself to his instincts – until he recognized the signal hidden in the omega’s pheromones. He was on his feet in an instant. 

“Excuse me, where is the restroom?” He flashed her one of his smiles that made hearts melt and babies cry. She floundered with her words and simply pointed out into the hall. He nodded and left.

Powerful legs took the stairs three by three, propelling him down the hall with a fury no man ever wished upon his worst enemy. The fury of a jealous alpha. He hesitated outside the farthest room on the hall for just a second, lifting his nose and smelling just a breath.

The distress was still mixed with the sweet scent. The pain now more powerful and blocking most of the other emotions. Bruce growled and threw the door open, crossing the small room in three strides before he ripped blankets off the bed and found

**nothing**

He growled to himself, angry his instinct had taken him on a wild goose chase. That’s when he heard the whimper. Bruce’s head snapped to the ceiling, catching sight of the tiny omega curled up and wedged between the gap of plaster and support beams. 

A hiding place. So this omega didn’t like being treated like an omega. Bruce reached up.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice soft yet still commanding. He knew his competition was only a room away, ear pressed to the wall and trying to listen in. 

“What do you want. I don’t have anything for you.” The tired voice croaked back. Stormy blue eyes pierced Bruce’s much darker ones, making him feel guilt and love at the same time. The boy didn’t move from his perch, instead, Bruce saw him pull of his shoe, arming himself against the alpha.

“My name is Bruce Wayne. And if you’d have me, I’d like to take you in. As my ward…as my son.” Showing emotion, much less affection, had always been hard for Bruce. He found the words oft felt like vile in his mouth before he spoke and the only cure would be to swallow them down, hiding them from their intended receiver. 

But the ebony haired boy was different. His face was hardly as bright as he had seen it, yet somehow Dick managed to light the room with just his presence. Almost as if this one little gypsy had been God’s last gift to the world, only to have it corroded and locked away in a building for no one to see. Bruce suddenly knew how wrong that was. He wanted to show Dick the world, give him everything a boy could want, raise him, train him,

_love_

him.

“You want an omega,” The boy corrected, keeping his spot, “or at least a circus boy to keep you entertained.”

“And if that’s true, which I assure you it is not, what better do you have to do? “ Bruce retorted. The oy stiffened. His mind instantly racing and his eyes darting to the door where the brown-haired, green-eyed, missing-toothed spawn of satan had been the previous nights. 

“Fine,” Dick hissed, “But only because I don’t want to be here. You can’t have me.” 

“I won’t touch you. I promise,” Bruce helped the Flying Grayson down, though it seemed he hardly needed it, “I want to give you a chance. Show you the world isn’t as dark as it seems right now. Trust me, I’ve been through a loss like yours.” 

That made Dick’s face change. When the conversation had left castes, and the real issue that plagued the boy had been brought up, Dick froze. His mind was going one hundred miles a minute and Bruce could only watch as the omega sized him up and suddenly – 

Hugged him.

Bruce Wayne had hardly felt another person’s touch in years. Sure, Alfred had hugged him before, and he had been with many women, but nothing compared to the small eight year old currently wrapped around his middle.

The tiny, sticky hands, the tear soaked cheeks, and the tussled black hair all pressed against him. It made Bruce falter and stop for a minute, caught up in the boy’s actions.

“Dick?”

“Yes,” came the tiny reply, “yes, I do want to join your family.”


	8. Omega in heat

Twelve years had passed since the night a small omega entered the alpha’s manor. Twelve years made long merely just by the presence of the omega Bruce would never let himself touch. His insticts flared whenever he saw Dick, urging him to stake his claim. But Bruce never gave into them. Twelve years of watching a beautiful, lithe boy grow into a handsome, extraordinary man. He had watched and worried and cared and hated and loved and felt more than he ever knew he could after losing his own family. He watched patiently as Dick grew in and out of clothes, worried when his son didn’t arrive home on time, cared about how and who Dick spent his time with, hated every girl Dick brought home to meet him, and loved the little omega with a passion.

But the years were short as well. He knew they would race by as soon as the boy hit his growth spurt, though Dick never did seem to grow all that tall. There was never a dull moment, Bruce was always three steps behind the boy. It was like a cat chasing a light, the moment he caught it, the light would dart away, leaving him but never too far. Dick was the only constant Bruce had known outside of Alfred.

Which is why it hurt when he watched his little omega pack up and head toward Hudson University.   
But the Alpha stayed strong, to his own right, always making sure his omega was safe, giving him distance but protection. He had trained Dick not to need an alpha, not to need anyone.

September 19, 2015 

Dick Grayson shot out of bed like a bat out of hell. He stumbled into the connecting bathroom of his dormroom and clutched the counter for support. He could barely keep himself upright as his legs turned to jello and his hair stuck to the sweat already making his boxe shorts and tank top stick to his body. He clumsily reached for his phone, barely managing to grab it before another wave hit him.

This one was far worse than the last. His heat was in full force now, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Dick dialed the number without een looking. It had been two years since he left, but if anyone could help the omega, it was him. 

“Bruce….” He panted into the phone, barely able to suppress the pathetic whine that threatened to escape his lips. The other end was silent for a long second before,

“I’m on my way.” And the line went dead. Dick sighed and stumbled into bed again, curling up around a pillow and letting his body shake with the unspeakable need.   
He silently thanked Bruce for getting him the only room on the top floor. No one would walk by and smell him, hopefully, no one would know. He prayed none of his friends would decide to come over suddenly. That would be too hard for the heat-dazed omega to explain, even with all his training.

He waits out the morning, shaking and hugging himself, praying theres not much traffic. He doesn’t even move when he hears Bruce’s key turn in the door. 

“Dick?” The worried voice echos through the tiny dorm room. Dick sticks a hand up from his blanket cocoon. The blankets fall off of it, pooling around his shoulder and adding barely any weight yet the new pressure makes Dick moan and roll onto his back.

“Are you alright? How far are you?” Bruce rushes over, asking questions to distract from the radiating pheromones soaking the room. Dick only smells better when he moves and it nearly makes Bruce lose control.

“First day” Dick murmers and moves to squish into Bruce’s touch. He needs to be touched. To be petted. To be loved. To be around someone he trusts. To be with Bruce. Bruce holds onto Dick’s outstretched hand, concerned and jealous. Concerned with how need-stricken his Robin is and jealous that Dick doesn’t seem to need anything or anyone but relief.

Bruce pulls dick over and sits in the bed with him. Stroking his hair and running his fingers through the thick dark strands. Watching, silent, observing. The same way they had always taken on Dick’s heats. The same way they would continue.

Because no matter how much Bruce wished it, Dick was acting on instinct, not emotion. His need wasn’t love. It was primal and genetic. 

 

Dick Grayson was not in-love with Bruce Wayne 

 

or so he thought. 


End file.
